Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; Introduction: defining Salafism, analysing canons; Part I. Salafism and its Transmission: 1. The canon and canonizers; 2. Africans and Saudi Arabia; 3. Nigerians in Medina; Part II. The Canon in Action: 4. Teaching the canon; 5. The canon in religious debates and electronic media; 6. The canon in politics; Part III. Boko Haram and the Canon: 7. Boko Haram from Salafism to jihadism; 8. Reclaiming the canon; Appendix 1: the Sermon of Necessity; Glossary of persons; Glossary of Arabic terms; Bibliography.

Promotional Information

Examines how Salafism, a globally influential Muslim movement, is reshaping religious authority in Nigeria, Africa's most populous country.

About the Author

Alexander Thurston is Visiting Assistant Professor of African Studies at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. He has conducted field research in Nigeria and Senegal, and has published in African Affairs, the Journal of the American Academy of Religion, the Journal of Religion in Africa, and Islamic Africa, as well as with the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Carnegie Endowment.

Reviews

'Alexander Thurston's book, Salafism in Nigeria, is an important work on the modern study of Islam in Nigeria. Indeed, the work is a pioneering publication on the research of the Salafi movement in that country.' Mukhtar Umar Bunza, Reading Religion